1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates generally to a method for making flavoring additives for grain cereal products. More specfically, this invention relates to a method for making flavoring additives that are formed into distinct particles or bits containing an artificial sweetener, aspartame, for use in complete instant home-cooked hot cereal mixes.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
Home-cooked grain products, such as warm breakfast cereals, have traditionally been flavored at home by the preparer of the meal with the use of common sweeteners, condiments, and flavorings. For example, the flavor of oatmeal, cream of rice products, and cream of wheat is most frequently enhanced by the addition of sugar and flavorings including cinnamon, fruit particles, or other additives and sweeteners, either during or just after the cooking of the cereal. In recent times, consumers have found ready-mixed, easily prepared breakfast cereals desirable. The convenience of a ready-mixed breakfast cereal is enhanced by having all the ingredients necessary to prepare the cereal, including the sweeteners and flavorings, mixed together within the packet or box supplied by the manufacturer.
Manufacturers have provided flavorings for dry ready-to-eat cereals for years. These cereals are not cooked by the consumer. The cereals come prepared with sweeteners and flavorings ready-mixed into the product or applied to the surface of the cereal product. Those cereals, which have the flavorings ready-mixed in them, are generally flaked products in which sugar and other ingredients are incorporated into the dough mixture prior to the puffing or flaking of the final product. The resulting dough mass has the flavoring ingredients within its matrix upon puffing or baking. Products in which the flavorings are applied to the cereal surfaces are generally products upon which sugar and other flavorings have been sprayed after the cereal particles have been puffed or flaked. Generally, topical applications of sweeteners result in a glaze or frosting on the individual cereal particles.
A method, which has proven unsatisfactory in the past for flavoring either a hot or a cold cereal, is one in which the flavoring is added to the contents of the cereal as a separate and distinct particle. The mixing of a granulated flavoring into a package containing a cereal does not provide the consumer with a properly flavored product. Vibrations that occur during shipping and handling of the product cause segregation or layering to occur between the particle sizes of the cereal and the flavoring particles. When segregation occurs the cereal particles poured by the consumer from the top of the package are separated from the flavoring particles which migrate and settle at the bottom of the package.
Equally undesirable is the addition of a separate packet containing the flavorings into a larger package containing the cereal. Manufacturing problems are increased with separate packaging because additional apparatuses are required to pour the flavorings into a packet and then place that packet into the larger cereal package. Consumer acceptance is also poor with packaging of this kind. Separate packaging of the flavoring ingredients and cereal still requires the consumer to measure the desired amount of flavoring ingredient prior to adding the flavoring ingredient to the cereal during cooking.
Other difficulties also prevent the mixing of flavoring particles into home prepared hot cereals. For example, the flavoring particles must be compatible with the cereal particle during both storage and cooking. During cooking, the flavoring particles must melt at the cooking temperatures of the cereal product. The mixing of the flavoring ingredients into the cereal must not adversely effect the texture of the final cooked cereal product. These ingredients must mix rapidly with the cooked cereal particles. Another difficulty is flavor loss which can occur through volatilization of the essential flavorings during storage of the product. Usually, flavor loss is prevented or reduced by the use of more expensive, airtight packaging. Also, when the flavoring particles tend to accumulate at the bottom of the package, excess moisture from the atmosphere can cause the flavoring particles to lump into a solid mass.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,544,332 to Leebens discloses a method for adding flavoring ingredients to cereal particles. In this method, a dry ready-to-eat cereal is obtained having powdered additives incorporated into the cereal flakes. The cereal dough is puffed or extruded into pieces at a specified moisture content. These pieces are then coated with a powdered additive such as sugar or dehydrated fruit. The powdered additive covers the surface and voids of the puffed pieces. The powder covered puffed pieces are then flaked. This method entraps the additive at or near the surface of the flakes. In this patent the resulting cereal product is not intended to be cooked. The methods disclosed in this patent are not suitable for incorporating flavorings into cereals intended for home cooking. Home-cooked cereals cannot be made from puffed or extruded pieces because the integrity of the flakes is completely lost upon cooking. Such flakes break down or lose their particle integrity from the heat and mixing action that occurs during cooking of the cereal.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,840,685 to Lyall et al. discloses a method for applying sugar-sweetened coating to cereal particles. The coating is an aqueous solution containing edible fats or oils, an emulsifier, and sugar. These ingredients form a syrup having a specifically identified water content. The edible fat or oil containing the emulsifier is added to the aqueous sugar syrup at a temperature between 115.degree. F. and 155.degree. F. The aqueous syrup is mixed and heated to a temperature of 180.degree. F. The aqueous syrup is applied to the cereal particles as a coating and then dried. This method eliminates the steps of separately applying oil and then sugar to the cereal particles. This method is not readily adaptable to home-prepared, hot cereals, because the cereal particles of this patent are larger than those normally found in home-prepared, hot cereals. The use of this method to flavor the thin, lightweight flakes of a home cooked, hot cereal causes clumping of the flakes and disrupts the particle integrity of the flakes.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,941,893 and 3,950,551 both to Glabe et al. disclose methods for producing a composite sugar syrup agglomeration and the products of those methods. These two processes involve the formation of dried flakes or ground flakes obtained from drying a thin flim of aqueous syrups of numerous sugars or sugar containing products. The flakes in the Glabe '893 patent are formed in the presence of ungelatinized starch which is partially gelatinized in situ and/or in the presence of a soy protein. The flakes are agglomerated by adding a spray of water in small amounts to the flakes while tumbling the flakes to form agglomerates. Drying occurs with continued tumbling until the agglomerates are no longer sticky. Further drying is completed on a tray or conveyor. The Glabe '551 patent, instead of forming agglomerates, produces an extrudable mixture. The agglomerates resulting from these methods are for consumption on ice cream or for use in baking, but not for use in cooked grain cereals. The agglomerates of these methods are primarily concerned with delivering a particulate sweetening ingredient. This particulate sweetening ingredient retains structural integrity upon contact with a food having a moisture content higher than that of the particulate sweetening ingredient.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,016,790 to Cole discloses a method for producing an agglomeration of cereal particles, which are double coated with fat and then coated with a dilute syrup. The resulting product is a granola-type mix. The method used to derive the product of this disclosure is primarily concerned with the mechanical operation of producing a cereal admixture. The final product is a combination of cereal, sweeteners, and flavorings, but is not intended to be used as a cooked cereal.
Aspartame is the high potency dipetide sweetener, L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine methyl ester. This L-aspartic acid sweetening derivative has about one hundred, fifty times the sweetness of an equal weight of sucrose. Aspartame is relatively water insoluble. Aspartame's combination of water insolubility and intense sweetness causes "hot spotting" when aspartame solutions are applied to cereal surfaces. Hot spotting is the non-uniform sweetening response that causes a burning sensation in the mouth. Hot spotting results from the uneven application of aspartame to a food particle. Aspartame is not generally added to cereal ingredients that are cooked to form cereal pieces because aspartame is thermally unstable and looses its sweetness upon thermal decomposition.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,794,741 to Weigle discloses a method for making flavor bits for incorporation into culinary mixes. The flavor bits of this patent are identified as being able to carry almost any flavoring material. The sweeteners identified for use with these flavor bits do not include aspartame. The ingredients used to make the flavor can include dextrose.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,156,020 to Bohrmann et al. discloses a method for producing a dry product for food preparations. The method of this patent forms agglomerates made from a starch-containing material. The agglomerates of this patent are identified as being suitable to flavor instant food products which can be prepared by stirring in hot or cold water. Specific foods to be flavored include soups and beverages. Also, various dextrose or dextrant products are identified as being suitable for use in these agglomerates. Various gums including a guar meal are identified as suitable for use in forming the agglomerates. The agglomerates of this patent are not used with aspartame.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,955,000 to Baggerly discloses a method for making a cereal and the product of the method. The cereal of this patent uses an L-aspartic acid derivative and sweetening compounds admixed in aqueous suspension with hydrolyzed amylaceous derivatives comprising predominantly oligosaccharide solids having a low dextrose equivalency. This composition is applied as a coating solution to a cereal based comestible. The product of this patent is a coating material containing aspartame and not a flavored agglomerate intended for a cooked cereal.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,377 to Gajewski discloses a method for preparing a cereal presweetened with aspartame. The cereal of this patent is a ready-to-eat cereal having an exterior coating sweetened with aspartame. The sweetened, dry comestible of this invention includes a water soluble vegetable protein isolate and aspartame. The material of this invention can be applied to corn flakes as well as to numerous other grain products. The product of this patent is not an agglomerate suitable for use with a cooked cereal.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,151 to Schade et al. discloses a method for making a frosted coating for sweetened foods. This patent is for a comestible coating composition utilizing aspartame and a method for applying that composition. The coating is applied to the surface of a cereal or similar food. The sweetener is applied to the cereal and dried so as to give the appearance of a frosting. This patent discloses the use of aspartame with maltodextrins. This patent does not disclose a process for making flavored agglomerates with aspartame.
The industry lacks a consumer-cooked cereal that is flavored and sweetened by agglomerated flavor bits having an artificial sweetener. The industry also lacks a complete over-the-counter package of cereal in which cereal particles and artificially sweetened flavoring particles remain evenly dispersed within the package after shipping and storage.